


Legacy: Of Gods and Demons (Book:1)

by sappyspeare



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aphrodite - Freeform, Athena - Freeform, Demons, F/F, Fantasy, Gods, Greek - Freeform, Isis - Freeform, Literal Crack, Lucifer - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Norse, Order, Twitter, YA, Zeus - Freeform, church of mitch, egyptian, groupchat, hindu, legacy, nepthys - Freeform, roman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-04-23 10:56:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19149625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sappyspeare/pseuds/sappyspeare
Summary: Melanie Engel had no home. no identity, no place in this world. they were the kind of person who was meant to live on this world unseen and unknown. until they turned eighteen, and suddenly, demons, gods, monsters and faeries were out to get them. what could Mel do, with no training in the real world, no idea what was happening? why, join the Church of Mitch, of course.





	1. Prologue: the Orphanage

The Greenwood Orphan’s Home was just like any ordinary orphanage; religious and strict, with taciturn nuns, hard beds and watery porridge. For many years, the orphanage has run like clockwork, produced polite children who grew up to become clerks, secretaries, teachers. Pious, and humble. The nuns prided themselves in their prowess at raising good human beings, never having any of them stray from the path of God and his Son, Jesus Christ. 

But even the most accomplished nuns, who had raised hundreds of children in their quiet, humble lives, never expected that godforsaken child. 

No one knew who the child was, where it was from, its parentage, nothing. The child’s mother had stumbled through their door one cold rainy night, pregnant, soaking wet and wearing a mud-splattered dress. The woman had been taken in, helped in delivery, prayed over and given new clothes and a bed. When asked if she believed in God, she had smiled tiredly cuddled her baby close to her and said, “That’s one way to put it.”  
No one could deny the girl was beautiful, with ebony hair and ox-like eyes, tall and lithe. She was polite and clearly both foreign and from a good family. 

A week after staying with the nuns with her child, the staff was fairly sure the girl would join them as a caretaker (many mothers did). But then, one morning the nuns woke for the morning prayers and she was gone. They looked everywhere, and finally found her crying, crouching in the ground. She was clutching a cross in her hands, her tears splashing onto the talisman. The nuns were quick to notice that there were two scorch marks in the ground, as though someone had burned them there. 

The baby cried for its mother, and she took it in her arms, putting the cross around its neck. “Never let this be taken off my child’s neck. Ever, do you understand?” she told the nuns, her face streaked with tears. She made each of them promise over their mother's’ grave to never allow the chain off her child’s neck. Only later would the nuns realize her eyes were glowing. 

“What will you name the child?” asked Sister Annalise, not unkindly.  
“Melanie Engel.”  
Then she was gone, and the nuns never saw her again.

For 18 years, Mel was raised in the orphanage. They grew to be a quiet, polite little one, never playing with the others, always buried into some book or other, or hunched over a drawing. The drawings were spectacular, but peculiar. When asked about their inspiration for the art, Mel had once said, “I saw it in a dream.”

Mel unnerved the other children; many tried befriending them, but never stayed. Mel learned to take the monthly allowances, the small payments for tutoring or teaching art to the little kids saving up...just to leave the suffocating walls of the orphanage. Just for that first breathe of fresh air. 

Mel knew why the nuns gave them more money, knew why the other children were told to stay away.  
The nuns were religious, but not stupid. They had seen the scorch marks. The cross. The odd reddish glint of the child’s eyes.  
They whispered in their rooms, away from the children’s innocent eyes and ears.  
Strange child.  
Evil child.  
Demon child.


	2. Chapter 1: The Hooded One

Mel rubbed nervously at the cross around their neck, looking up at the tiny apartment building where they would be living. It was small, only two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. 

Having lived alone in one room for the entirety of their life, this was heaven. The breath of freedom was still filling Mel’s lungs. Nothing could take away the light feeling still billowing in Mel’s chest. It hadn’t lessened since they had left the orphanage. 

Collapsing on the small blue couch, Mel looked at the ceiling.   
Home, they thought giddily. I’m home. 

***

A week later, Mel found themselves collapsed on the small blue couch once more, blue jeans splattered with paint. Their colleague at the Pilkington School had invited them out for drinks in about...Mel checked the watch on their wrist. 20 minutes. Sighing, Mel got up, and started digging through their already messy drawer looking for some clean clothes suitable for going out. 

30 minutes later, wearing a jacket with a t-shirt and fresh, clean jeans, Mel hurried out to the Neon Club, where they would be meeting Drew from work. 

On entering, Mel immediately regretted agreeing to this. The place was filled with people, sweaty bodies on sweaty bodies, stank of alcohol and weed and the flashing lights hurt Mel’s eyes. What’s more, there were thin, skimpily dressed girls on the stage, pole-dancing.   
After stepping on possibly everyone’s toes and dodging a flying brassiere, Mel located Drew, who was pressed up against a wall by a blonde girl, one hand holding a glass of alcohol, the other pressed against the girls back. the girl's hands seemed to be making their way to his pockets. At this point, Mel found the closest exit and left. Not only did they hate people, they had never actually been to a club, and the whole experience was too overwhelming. Mel could almost hear the nuns at Greenwood’s tutting in disapproval next to their ear. Grinning at the thought slightly, Mel set off in the dark towards their house. 

Mel had a habit of walking with their head down and hands in pockets, so when they were shoved into a dead-ended alley, they had no choice but to be shoved up against the wall. A cold, sharp edge was pressed to Mel’s throat. Knife, they thought blearily. 

“Wallet, now,” said a gruff voice, pressing the knife down harder.   
“Maybe if you let my hands go, I’d give it to you,” Mel replied, and instantly regretted. The guy growled (Mel was pretty sure it was a guy), and seemed as though he was about to say something, but was then abruptly pulled off of Mel and shoved against the opposite wall. Blinking to adjust with the darkness, Mel saw a figure dressed in dark red leather standing over the mugger. “Now, Benith. I’ve played nice before, but this is pushing my limits. Leave, and make sure i never find you in our territory again,” the newcomer said somehow pleasantly, and a soft *shink* sound came, and Mel caught the glint of steel in the person’s hand. Kneeling down, the newcomer bent over Benith’s face and made a cut along his cheek. Before he could scream, the knife made another cut from the other side. “Tell Mari i won’t be so lenient next time. You have been warned many times. From next time, I won’t play nice, Sam's orders be damned.” the figure turned away from the bleeding mess that was Benith and came slowly towards Mel. instinctively, Mel backed away into the footpath, out of the alley. “Get away from me!”   
The figure lifted their head and the last thing Mel saw before they passed out was a red glint in the person’s eyes, a satin-gloved hand making a three fingered gesture, and the other hand catching them as Mel fell.


	3. Chapter 2: Cloud Machhiato

Mel woke in their bed the next day, still in clothes from the previous night with a text on their phone from Drew demanding to know why they hadn’t shown up at the club. Since they didn’t have work that day, Mel decided to clear their head by going for a cup of coffee. Plus, they needed to do some shopping.   
They changed clothes and headed downstairs, mulling over what had happened. How had they managed to get back into their own bed? Who was that leather clad person from last night? What kind of mother in her right mind would name their child Benith? So many burning questions. 

***

Mel found themselves walking into a pretty full coffee shop, Starbucks. Mel joined the line and tried to figure out what to order. By the time they reached the front of the queue, Mel was also hungry. A girl in all black clothes, a green starbucks apron and a green cap stood on the other side of the counter. She wore glasses and her red tipped hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked perfectly at ease and happy to be there, as though being a barista was the best thing in the world. She smiled at Mel, but it was an unnerving smile. The smile did not reach her eyes as easily as it had to the other customers. “Hi, what can I get you?” the girl said, and a chill ran down Mel’s spine. 

The girl’s voice was exactly the same as the hooded knife-wielder from the previous night. 

“Uh, what’s good around here? I’m a bit new to the area.” not necessarily true, seeing as Mel had lived not two kilometres away from the hubbub of the city for 18 years, but whatever.   
“Well, i would suggest, seeing as it’s pretty early in the morning, and you seem like someone who would like to try something new, how about a Cloud Macchiato? It’s a pretty new choice, but it’s actually pretty great.”  
“Okay, i’ll take that then, thanks,” Mel said, taking out their wallet and handing the girl a $20 bill before stepping out of the cue.   
Ten minutes later, Mel walked out of the store, drink in hand and immediately crashed into a girl with sopping wet black hair and odd turquoise eyes glinted strangely when caught by light. “Watch where you’re going,” she snarled and practically shoved Mel into a wall before stalking into Starbucks through the backdoor. Perplexed for a second, Mel stood there.

Two seconds later, Mel instantly regretted it. 

The girl with the wet hair was shoved out of the back door by the barista who had served Mel with such fury, Mel almost backed away into the street. On the pavement, people kept going about their business, walking briskly and checking their watches.   
Mel stopped one portly man with a handlebar moustache. “Those two girls in the alley, could you see what they’re doing? I think they’re hurting each other!”  
The man peered into the alley, looking ruffled. “Excuse me? There’s no one there, you silly child.” he yanked his arm out of Mel’s grip and walked away. Dumbfounded, Mel looked into the alley and almost fainted. 

The Starbucks barista was now dressed in full red leather and had an array of daggers and a large sword strapped to her waist. When, and how, did she change clothes? she had a knife in one hand, and a ball of flames in the other.   
Like, actual fire. In her hands. And it didn’t seem to burn her or anything.  
The other girl was dressed in black, and greenish scales had appeared on her hands and on the sides of her throat, like gills and scales of fishes. A rising wave of water that should have been impossible to find in the middle of London was behind her, her hand raised as if halting the wave from crashing down. Her other hand was preoccupied with slashing at the Starbucks barista, who yelled, “Yield, Mari! You know you can’t win this now. This is my territory, you overgrown frog!” she threw the ball of fire at Mari, who lost her concentration and caused a part of the wave came crashing down over Mel’s head. Mel yelped, dropped their drink (pity, that) and immediately got both the girls attention. They both stared at Mel, apparently shocked. “You-you can see us?” the barista asked Mel tentatively. 

“Am i supposed to pretend i didn't?” Mel replied, shivering slightly. Mel cursed themself immediately. Why did i have to talk? Dammit i should have walked away!  
The barista girl stepped forward, looked straight at Mel and snapped her fingers imperiously. “You don’t see anything here. You won’t remember this. Go!”   
A beat.   
Mel stared at the girl. “Um, what?”   
The other girl, Mari, stepped forward, baring her teeth. “Isn’t this your territory, Fire? So this is your charge. Perhaps i should give this one a little welcome!” and she turned and ran at Mel, drawing a knife from her belt. Before Mel could think to actually move, Mari had slashed at them, and the chain from which Mel’s cross hung snapped and the cross fell into Mel’s now disgustingly watery drink. Mel doubled over in pain, as sharp, cold shards shot up their back and something shot out―were those, were those wings?  
Mel collapsed to the ground with pain, writhing, as a long leathery tail zipped out from their lower back, complete with a forked end. Some hard and pointy things were sticking out of Mel’s head. Mari stepped back, almost collapsing on a wall. “What the hell? What is-what-” she backed away quickly, staring at Mel in a revolted and scared way. At that moment, the barista (Mari had called her Fire? Was that a pun?) struck with a throwing knife, and Mari ducked, growling. Fire stood in front of Mel’s pained and limp body on the ground. “Leave, Mari. that’s an order.”   
Mari snarled at her one last time, before stalking out of the alleyway haughtily. 

Fire immediately kneeled next to Mel, her eyes ablaze with worry and fear. She gingerly lifted Mel to a sitting position against the wall. “Zeus Almighty,” she muttered in wonder. “What are you? Who are you?”   
Mel looked at her blearily. “Did you-did you do something to my drink?” and then, for the second time in twelve hours, Mel charmingly passed out.


	4. Chapter 3: The Church of Mitch

Mel woke up in a bed that definitely wasn’t theirs, because it had nice smelling and fluffy sheets with a soft comforter draped over them. The smell of cookie dough ice-cream wafted towards Mel as they opened their eyes and blearily looked to the side, where a glass of milkshake-like looking thing was sitting.   
Propping themselves up in bed, Mel looked around. They seemed to be in some kind of infirmary, but what kind of hospital ward had such fluffy, big beds and large glass bay windows was beyond them. Had that flamethrowing girl brought Mel here? With so many thoughts running through their head, it took a moment for Mel to register that they were wearing clean clothes. Jeans and a simple grey t-shirt. A cardigan hung on a chair next to their bed. 

Mel grabbed their glasses from the bedside table, eyeing the milkshake thing warily, when a voice came from the humongous entryway, “Drink it, it’s much better than that cloud macchiato you were supposed to have.” the flamethrower stood their, her hair in a braid coiled around her shoulder, wearing black jeans, black graphic t-shirt, dark red leather jacket with dark red combat boots. At her waist, an array of different types of dagger hung. The girl was leaning casually against a column. From the distance, she looked normal, but as she walked closer, Mel saw her warm brown eyes flickering red, and two horns coming in and out of view. What was more, two gigantic wings-they were red with black specks, texture wise looked leathery but Mel had a feeling if they touched the things, they would be smooth as velvet.

The girl seemed to realize that Mel was staring at her with wide eyes. “Dammit,” she muttered. “I told Holli to do the charm properly. I have no energy to glamour myself right now.” she sighed and plopped into the chair. “Drink that,” she said, nodding at the milkshake. “It’ll help with the shock, the pain and nausea.”  
Mel, wondering how the girl knew their symptoms so well, slowly took the drink in their hand. It looked nothing like cookie dough, more like apple juice with a little honey in it. Without thinking, Mel drank half the glass. When they were done, they saw the girl staring at them curiously. “Yes?”  
“What did you taste?”  
“Uh...cookie dough ice-cream? How does that work? It didn’t look anything like cookie dough!”  
The girl laughed. “That was nectar. Drink of the gods. It always tastes like your favourite comfort food.”  
“Oh. I've had cookie dough a few times, so I guess that makes sense.”  
The girl looked at Mel weirdly. “Only a few times? Remind me to get you a cookie dough cup next time.”  
“There isn’t going to be a next time,” Mel replied, pushing themselves off the bed. Immediately, the girl was on her feet and pushing Mel back down onto the bed. “Don’t make me hurt you, or else Kayla and Jay will both be after my hide.”   
Mel glared at the girl. “Oh i’m sorry, i should totally stay in god knows where, with a flamethrowing girl who completely destroyed my Cloud Macchiato and probably drugged it to make me see her apparently engaged in a fight with some weird discount female Aquaman. Of course, that’s an amazing idea. I’m going home.”   
Mel forced the girl’s hands away from their face and jumped off the bed. “I would say it’s been a pleasure, but frankly it hasn’t.” grabbing the cardigan, Mel made to walk out, when a soft shink sound came from behind them, and Mel felt the sharp, cool press of a blade on their throat. In a split second the girl had pinned Mel to a wall.   
“Do you know how risky it would be for someone like you to go out into the mortal world now? That amulet is all that kept you from being found and devoured or pulverized by some demon or empousai or any other nasty deity. You stay here until further notice,” she growled into Mel’s ear, eyes blazing. All the chill, laid-back energy was gone. “Drink the nectar, sleep. You need it.” and just like that Mel felt the weight of the girl lift, and a second later the doors of the infirmary closed, and by the sound of it, locked. 

Mel considered their options. One, they could jump out of a window and risk falling who knew how many feet. Seeing the girl’s agility, it was either guarded or trapped. Two, drink the nectar, and sleep.   
Well. hesitantly and with a sinking feeling in their stomach, Mel finished the rest of the the nectar and collapsed in the bed. What had the girl said, amulet? Did she mean the cross? Mel took it in their hands and looked at it. It looked as it always had, tarnished bronze, weirdly shiny from rubbing too much. It was almost laughable, that as someone raised in an incredibly religious orphanage, where all the nuns always made Mel wear this cross regardless of occasion or day. Even at night. What was so special about it? Thoughts racing in their already aching head, Mel drifted to sleep.

***

When they awoke, they saw two people leaning over them. One was a girl with curly dark brown hair and a slight dimple as she smiled lopsidedly, at least four ear piercings, a small necklace with a crown charm on her neck and a cute face. The other was fair with pouty lips and big dark eyes, mousy chestnut hair pulled back into a messy bun.   
“Hi, i’m Kayla!” said the dimple girl. On closer inspection, Mel saw this girl had wings as well, but unlike Miss Reverse Elsa, these wings were more like a butterfly, or dragonfly’s wings, and smaller.   
Not wanting to get another migraine, Mel looked at the other person, who looked normal enough. “I’m Jay,” they said, with a small wave. “Sam said to let you out―not, of course, that you were ever kept as prisoner here,” they added in a flurried, nervous way. Kayla gave Jay a look that said, i love you, but please stop talking!  
Mel stared at both of them, then slowly got up. “I’m trusting you guys not to kill me while i walk out your door.”

At that moment, Brown Lava-girl came back, for some reason wearing different clothes. She wore a dark green plain t-shirt and dark blue jeans with converse, hair messily tumbling down her shoulders, crooked hipster glasses propped on her face. nevertheless, she still had her knives with her, but at least the wings weren’t there anymore. Maybe these were all elaborate and believable costumes. Maybe these people were just freaky cosplayers. “Oh you’re awake,” she said, her casual air back. “Let’s go, i have to show you around-no arguing,” she added as Mel opened their mouth to protest.   
Jay and Kayla both squeezed Mel’s arm. “Don’t worry, she went to all the trouble to save you, she won’t kill you,” Kayla said. She sounded like she was convincing herself.   
Fire raised her eyebrows. “Don’t be so sure, darling,” she said sweetly. Then, she dragged Mel out of the infirmary. 

Immediately Mel was surrounded by grey brick walls, like a castle corridor. A torch hung from a pillar. “I’ll show you around, come on,” said the girl, dragging Mel towards a staircase.   
“What’s your name?” Mel asked as they climbed.   
The girl looked at them, cocking her head. “People call me Fire.”  
Mel suppressed a snort. “You summon fire, and your name is Fire?”  
The girl rolled her eyes. “How original, i’ve never heard that before. My name is Nree, but my nickname is Fire.”  
“Oh.”   
“Yeah.” Fire knocked on a door, “yoohoo? Holli? Lars? Eh.” she walked into the room, gesturing for Mel to follow. At the vanity, a blonde, pale boy with blue-green eyes and average height sat, brushing a blonde wig. “What to do you want?” he said.   
“To introduce to our newest member, uh...what was your name?” Fire whispered to Mel.   
“Mel.”   
“Huh.” the boy looked at Mel, and his hair started growing longer, his face changing from cute to sharp and covered in makeup. Oh my god, Mel thought. “You’re the girl Drew was kissing that night,” they blurted out.   
The person at the table raised an eyebrow. “Not a good pay, but not a bad kisser, actually,” she changed back into a boy. “I’m Lars, nice to meet you,” he said. Mel nodded, slowly. Just then someone else came in through another door in the room.   
“Lars, get out of my room,” they said. This person had short brown hair, brown-green eyes, pale skin and was definitely taller than the boy. They had perfect eyeliner and was wearing a hoodie and jeans but somehow making it look amazing. “Hello, you must be the new person,” they said to Mel. “i’m Holli, the potion master and charmcaster of this place.”  
“Holli was kicked out of Delphi, sent here as a kind of punishment,” Fire said to Mel. “Let’s go.” 

As they walked out, Mel asked, “how many of you are there?”  
Fire considered. “About 15? I don’t actually know.” just then, a brown labradoodle ran up to them, barking happily. Fire sighed. “Not now Ace, sweetie; go to River,” she said patting Ace’s head. Ace lovingly licked Fire’s hand, then ran off.”  
“Ack,” Fire said lovingly, and kept walking. Mel took notice in the huge mirrors, but they were definitely not showing London. It was somewhere else; no, sometime else. “What do these show?”  
“The glass is coated with charms to keep out monsters and alert us of problems around the world in our different bases.”  
“Are you guys like the Mafia or something?” asked Mel.  
Fire burst out laughing. “No. look, Sam will tell you everything.”

***

Without so much as knocking, she waltzed into a room through an elaborate blue door, leaving Mel no choice but to follow her. Inside, the walls were draped with blue banners depicting something or another, a dragon mural, and large bay windows. A person sat on the bed, reading with the most elegant posture ever. This person wore a baby blue crop top with jeans and heels; long black hair with blue and blonde dyed tips, brown eyes and toffee brown skin. A long, thick dragons tail curled onto the ground, apparently protruding from the person’s behind. They looked up. “Do you not know how to knock?” they asked.   
“Do you not know how glamour yourself?” Fire retorted, and the person shot her a look. Then they looked at Mel, and gave them a one-over. “Hello, i’m Princess Eli of the Norse Council,” they said walking forward to shake Mel’s hand. Befuddled, Mel complied.   
“Aww, you are cute,” the Princess said adoringly. “Should i take them to Alek?”  
“I’m supposed to show Mel around.”  
“And now i’m joining,” said Eli, tossing her book onto the bed. They snuck an arm around Fire’s waist and grabbed Mel’s hand. “Let’s goo!!”

They walked up three flights of stairs to a towertop until they reached a brown, mahogany door. “If you guys can do magic, why don’t you have, i don’t know, an elevator? Or magic stairs?” Mel asked.   
“We need to stay in shape,” said Eli. catching Mel’s look, they laughed. “I’m kidding. This used to be a castle of some lord, then a church. You simply can’t successfully mess with this architecture.” Eli knocked and opened the door.   
Inside, the room had another spiral staircase leading somewhere, many windows, and many many shelves and tables. Books, bottles, scrolls, tapestries and jars of murky and colourful things alike covered the free walls.  
At the middle of the room, a purple-robe clad blonde figure was hunched over a jar of neon green something or other. They were so immersed, Fire had to clear her throat twice for them to look up.   
They had a petite frame (compared to Mel), blonde hair tied back into a bun, grey-turquoise-brown eyes fair in colour. They held a roughly foot-long wand in their hand, covered in carved in stars and vines. They had large feathery lilac-light blue angel wings with gold stars at the edge. 

“Oh uh, i’m Mel.”   
Alek smiled, and, to Mel’s surprise, hugged them.   
“I’m Alek, the Senior Mage of this place. Welcome to the Church of Mitch, Mel. come, i’ll take you to Sam.” to Eli and Fire, they said, “go make yourselves useful somewhere. Fire, i want a report of the fight and get a message to our base in Dublin to strengthen their goddamned wards. Eli, finish the potion and bring it up to Sam’s place, would you?” without waiting for an answer, Alek swept out of the room, arm linked with Mel’s.

As they navigated through the castle, Mel and Alek talked. About Alek, about Mel. Alek was a child of Hecate under Sam’s apprenticeship and had practically raised Fire and Fire’s sister River, and was a mage under the Order (whatever that was). 

They reached another tower, which was, as Alek said, in the East Wing. “this is Sam’s quarters. She’s like the protector of this place, and immortal. She’s been alive for about 2000 years, but recently something happened and she feel violently sick. She’s really weak, but...well, you’ll see for yourself.” Alek opened the door. 

Inside, there were two desks covered in jars, scrolls, and books, a vanity, a walk-in closet and, of course―more large windows. In the middle was a canopy bed, where a woman with long black hair and toffee brown skin was propped upright on her pillows. She opened her eyes, and they were brown and ox-like. She smiled at Alek, then turned her attention to Mel. her smile faded from her timeless, beautiful face and a look of fear, confusion and disbelief came over her like a mask. “What,” she whispered, “are you doing here?”


	5. Chapter 4: In Which Eli Has an Interesting Weekend

Silence.  
It felt like the world was crashing down around Mel and all it avoided was the woman, Mel and that humongous freaking bed.  
Alek laughed nervously, “Sam, this is Mel, the kid Fire saved that day, remember? You wanted to meet them.” Alek’s slender hand slipped deftly around Mel’s arm, the grip strong and firm.  
Sam seemed to snap herself out of a trance, and waved a hand at Alek. “Leave us, would you Alek, dear? I want to talk to our new...recruit without distraction.” her tone was suggesting, gentle, but it felt more like an order. Alek hesitated then apparently thought better and left, with a final squeeze of Mel’s arm which brought forth fireworks in Mel’s insides. 

Sam beckoned Mel to come closer. Mel sat on a chair next to the bed, and saw that Sam’s hands were wrinkly, but her face was still young as a woman in her mid-twenties. “What-?”  
Sam laughed bitterly. “A rather sad young lady, the one who tried to kill you i believe, did this to me. She somehow managed to breach our walls and poison my evening cup of coffee. Most unfortunate, but the poison is such that it makes my body react as it should have many years ago―aging. I have lived for 2 millennia and now my years are catching up to me.” Sam flopped her wrinkly hand onto a cushion next to her with disgust. She composed herself, then looked at Mel. “Where are you from, child? Where is your family?”  
“I was raised in Greenwood’s Orphanage―ma’am,” Mel added as an afterthought.  
Sam nodded. “Not unheard of. If i hadn’t been good friends with Fire and River’s grandmother, they may also have been put in such an institution. It’s what mortal mothers do when they are scared of their child’s power. Sad, to see such potential wasted.”

“Uh, ma’m, what exactly is this place? What gods? What are these places? Who are you people?” Mel asked in a flurry. 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Curious aren’t you? I suppose it is my job to tell you. So, i shall.”  
You may know, thousands of years ago, and still now of course, people worshipped gods. These gods were not from other galaxies or worlds as many believed, they were derived from the things of our world we could not explain in any other way. There were different gods in different parts of the world, but they all existed, some still do, while others have been forgotten by us humans. Gods depend on us, Mel, as we depend on them to keep our cosmos safe. Now, the gods once decided many many years ago that unity was good, but order was better. They established the Order, a group of their own chosen or their children who represent them on earth. This Order has established these safehouses, institutes when children of gods and magic may come and learn to fight and survive against the underworld creatures―demons, empousai, giants, whatever bad creature you can think of, we kill. Or at least imprison. The Church of Mitch is one of the most successful―we have produced wonderful, powerful warriors over the last thousand years. Those you have seen today are our current batch. Should you wish to―and i doubt you’ll have a choice―you will join their ranks. Any questions?”  
“I have a choice?”  
Sam looked dubious. “In theory, yes. But as far as i can tell, you have been kept in the outside world for much too long with only an amulet to help you survive. This spell is fading, which is how the demon Benith found you. You would be safest here.”  
“Okay. also, how do you know i can even do magic or anything? How do you know i’m a child of a god?” Mel asked.  
“You may not be, that’s true. You may be a legacy, from a generation of demigods. You may not be the child of a god. But if you weren’t with the blood of gods in you, you would not have been able to drink nectar, or see any of this.”  
“Oh. then what am i?”  
Sam smiled. “Take off the amulet.”  
Mel slowly obliged, and immediately felt pain split through their head, hunched over like someone punched their stomach. “Open your eyes,” continued Sam and Mel considered shoving one of the elaborate stools down the woman’s throat. Upon opening their eyes, Mel looked behind them, and stifled a scream.

Two humongous leathery wings flapped gently. If Mel willed it, they fluttered. The dark colours had hues of red when the light hit them and something heavy on Mel’s head confirmed two horns sprouting out of their head. A forked tail snuck out behind Mel’s legs. Catching a glimpse of themself in the mirror, Mel damn near almost fainted. 

Their eyes were glowing red but not in a flame-like way like Fire’s, but a dark, pulsating red, like blood. The horns were pointy and designed with swirls. Mel looked at Sam, who had tears in her eyes. “What?” they asked.  
Sam shook her head. “Welcome, to the Church Of Mitch.” 

***

A month later, Mel fell face first onto the ground again, and this time wondered if feigning death would make Fire give them a break. But no such luck, as Fire hauled them up again. “Take heart, Mel. you’re doing good,” she said, unfailingly optimistic and patient as she had been with Mel for the two weeks of training Mel had gotten.  
Mel had been integrated into COM life pretty well. Magic and history lessons were comprised of researching in the library, which Mel never tired of, combat training was overseen by Fire or Alek which was going...well they both said that Mel was improving outstandingly, which they probably were, but Mel nonetheless felt useless and tired whenever in conscious state. 

“Why do you guys call it COM anyways?” asked Mel as they and Fire walked to the entrance from the training room.  
Fire actually smiled at that. “It stands for Church of Mitch, as this is an abandoned Church and Alek once said that the statue of Jesus looks like a guy named Mitch, and it just stuck, i guess.”  
Mel didn’t know what to feel about that, being raised in a very strictly Christian orphanage for 18 years. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Sam had been sending little missions on Mel’s way, to get them in habit and see how they used their strengths in battle. So far, most of the fights had been accompanied by River, Holli, or Fire who seemed to have taken the spot of Mel’s protector. As of now, they were walking to where River was waiting. “Have fun!” said Fire before sprinting off to gods knew where. 

River was Fire’s sister, which Mel had at first not believed at all. This quiet, collected and practically adorable girl was the little sister of that (partly) human hurricane? But River had proven to be a good friend and a good warrior too. Her abilities lay in the Water element, mainly which she apparently got from the Egyptian side of the family, but she was handy in fight with her whip. Today she was dressed casually enough in a cardigan and jeans with cute boots and her hair tied back. River and Fire, though nothing alike, somehow managed to mimic each other nonetheless. Today, Mel saw a hint of Fire’s signature raised eyebrows in River’s face as Mel walked towards her. “How bad did my dear sister rough you up, because if you collapse in the middle of a fight, that won’t be good,” said River.  
“Don’t you worry yourself with that,” Mel replied, and they headed out into the mortal world. 

“Tell me more about your family.”  
River looked surprised. “Well, our Mum’s side was part Egyptian and part Bengali, and our Dad is Greek. I got the Nephthys genes, which is why mum named me River, and Fire got the Apollo fire, and mum named her Nree because it’s from her bengali roots.”  
“What about your dad?” asked Mel as they turned a corner onto the main road.  
River looked incredibly proud, almost glowing for a moment. “He died in a battle against a manticore, First Order Hero of Olympus. He died a few months after i was born.”  
Mel nodded. “What about your mum?”  
“Went missing on a quest to Somalia. She was given the honours. After that, Sam took us in.”  
Mel felt like continuing would be stupid but they couldn’t help themself. “About that, River-”

“About time you guys came, i’ve been here for ages waiting for you slowpokes!” came a cheery voice from in front of them. They had reached the abandoned book store, which was definitely looking worse for wear. The speaker waved at them to come forward and then tackled River in a hug. “Moony! We haven’t seen you in forever!” cried River. 

Rita Deus, commonly known as Moony was a 16 year old sweetheart with curly brown hair and adorable brown eyes. They were in full gear for the mission, in grass-green pants and tucked in shirt with a silver jacket. A crescent moon shaped pendant hung from their neck, a symbol of their mother, Luna the Roman goddess of the moon, and their brown shoes and green attire indicated their place as an earth elementalist. They detached themself from River and hugged Mel tightly. Over the past month, Mel and Moony had gotten close, and had hung out quite a bit on missions. “Damn, how badly did Fire rough you up?” Moony said, scrutinizing Mel.  
“Why does everyone keep assuming Fire was the one roughing me up?” Mel replied.

***

“ALEK, PUT ME DOWN!” Mel screamed.  
Alek laughed maniacally before waving their hand and dropping Mel onto their bed. Mel tried to be mad at them, but it wasn’t possible. Every day, Alek was supposed to be helping Mel get their powers in check. instead , it turned into them attacking each other with magic. It was much more fun than mastering powers Mel hated anyways.  
Their powers felt like an extra limb they never wanted. Like this dark thing inside them they couldnt get rid of, something getting bigger everyday. It wasn’t easy to harness this power, it just felt like something completely, utterly unable to make their own. 

Letting Alek be their magic tutor was a good idea, seeing as Alek was a child of Hecate, Titaness of Magic. “Chocolate?” Alek offered.  
Mel obliged happily. Chocolate was the best thing since Ambrosia. Now that was true god’s food. 

Just at that moment, they were interrupted by Their Highness Princess Elizabeth Genevieve Annalise Gabriella Andromeda Hamilton storming in a flurry of a blue dress, leather harnessses strapped to their legs and waists with gun holsters. Their hair was pulled up in a ponytail, their eyes stormy. “I am going to KILL Fire and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” they growled.  
Alek raised their eyebrows. “Shocker.” Mel gave Alek a soft push.  
“What happened?”  
Eli huffed. “Had the nerve to KISS ME and then kiss some other girl and then run away! What the hell! Do I look like a joke to her?” Eli threw up their hands in frustration, and collapsed on the chair next to the dressing table (Mel refused to call it a vanity), grabbing the chocolate box and shoving two in their mouth at the same time. Mel and Alek exchanged a look.  
“Hey, Eli? Why don’t you just...talk to her?” Mel suggested tentatively.  
Eli stared at Mel incredulously. “Are you out of your god-damned mind-”

At that moment, Fire flew in through the open windows looking wild and pumped with adrenaline. She saw Eli and glared at them. “Where the HELL have you been? I have been looking all over the goddamned place for you and you’re holed up here? What the fuck? Oh hi, Mel, Alek,” she added as if she had just noticed the two of them.  
“Hello person who is not supposed to be in my room,” Mel deadpanned.  
Fire made a face at them. “Sam said to tell you two to quit horsing around and go see her. Scram!” Fire shooed Alek and Mel out of Mel’s own room and shut the door. 

“They better not destroy my room.”

***

“You...you want me to what?” Mel spluttered.  
Sam sighed and rubbed her temples, like she had a headache (which she probably did), and repeated, “Hydra attacks. Dryads dead. Take Eli, go kill.”  
“But why Eli?” Alek interjected.  
“Air support, experience, long range ballistae,” Sam replied, counting them off on her hand. “Just don’t die, okay?”  
She shooed them out of her room.

Mel groaned as they both walked back to Mel’s room. “Why Eli? Literally anyone except Fire and Eli would be good right now.”  
Alek consolingly rubbed Mel’s arm. “You’ll be fine.it might not be a manticore. Maybe it’s a really large bull.”  
Mel laughed as they walked into the room. Thankfully, Eli and Frei were both gone, but Mel noticed the chocolates had melted into a goopy mess, dripping onto the floor.  
Sighing, they both set out to clean it up. By the time they were done, Moony and Holli barged into the room and started causing a general ruckus until Jay poked her head in and told everyone to come to dinner or starve for the whole night. Not wanting to miss the lasagna, they all rushed downstairs.

Tension ran high at the dinner table. Fire and Eli took turns glaring at each other, Holli and Lars were bickering as usual, River, Kayla and Moony were throwing green peas at each other (and at everyone else).  
“Eli, we’re going to look for the hydra tomorrow morning okay?” Mel told Eli. Eli nodded glumly and ducked to avoid a projectile green pea from Kayla. “Where is it?”  
“Downtown.”  
Eli snorted. “Of course it is. Just once i’d like to fight a monster or a demon thats just in the next block, maybe a few metres away.”  
“Why don’t you look in the mirror then?” Fire muttered to her lasagna as River choked on their Sprite next to her.  
Eli sent Fire a nasty look and (not very) discreetly flung a carrot stick at her.  
Fire immediately retaliated by flicking a spoonful of sauce at Eli, which stained their shirt. A collective gasp went up from around the table. 

There was a beat.  
Then another beat.

Then suddenly, the air was thick with flying food and projectile olives. Ducking under the table, Mel found River also taking refuge under the table, along with Holli. “Does this happen often?” Mel practically yelled over the din. “Not at this level, no,” River yelled back.  
It took about an hour to clean up the food and even then somehow even Alek’s magic couldn’t get the salsa off of the wall properly.  
It wasn’t until Mel made their way up to their room, covered in sauce and veggies and incredibly sticky, did they realized that Eli and Fire hadn’t been at the dining room after the food fight had started. 

***  
Mel stood at the entrance hall of COM for the second time that week, this time waiting; Holli had given them some very nice gear to go on a mission: with a harness for weapons, which at the moment were two knives and a gun which Mel would probably never use. The only accessories were the magical tracker bracelet Alek had given them, and of course the cross. Rubbing it gingerly, Mel looked back towards the staircase. Why was Eli so late?

Two minutes later, Eli ran down the staircase towards Mel, their hair a mess, gun holster falling, their buttons done wrong and an embarrassed look on their face. Mel raised an eyebrow at them. “Have fun last night?”  
Eli looked even more mortified and looked down hurriedly doing the straps on their holders. Fire bounded down the stairs with River and Ace in tow. Wrapping an arm around Eli’s waist, Fire gave Eli a peck on the cheek and a hug. “Come back to me and don’t do anything stupid.”  
Eli snorted. “Says you.”  
River nudged Mel and handed them a scabbard with a sheathed sword. “Holli told me to give this to you.”  
Unsheathing the sword, Mel saw a lovely sword with designs on the hilt. “Who’s is this?”  
River shrugged. “I’ve never seen it before. Good luck!” they hugged Mel before running off to gods-knew-where with Ace.  
Fire hugged Mel as well. “Don’t worry, Hydra’s are dumb and big and slow. It’s probably a teenager, so it’s just cranky.”  
“You’d know all about being cranky, wouldn’t you?” Mel replied. 

***  
“So you and Fire are dating now?”  
Eli hesitated before replying. “Yeah.”  
“You dont seem happy,” Mel ventured.  
Eli sighed. “I’m a royal, a legacy of Frey. somehow or other, we’re all legacies, but i’m the only one who has the pressure from parents on me. It’s bad enough i’m a dragon bastard, but if i want to be my mother’s successor, i have to marry well. And Fire is not what my people would call appropriate for a suitor for me.”  
Mel smiled ruefully. “That’s true. But do you love her?”  
“Yes. i have for quite a while. But her parents, while in prestigious positions even in death, aren’t what we see as a good family. They’ve had...problems, rumours, and stuff. My mother’s subjects and ministers are all power hungry fools who don’t do anything unless you prod them a lot. I must take the throne, but i don’t know how long i have until i have to choose between this and that.”

Mel nodded. “You’ll be fine. Maybe you can do long distance?”  
Eli laughed, “Sorry for ranting, i should be focused on the mission- WHAT THE FUCK?!” they screamed as a knife was pressed to their throat by a tanned young man with blue eyes, dark brown hair, only slightly shorter than Mel. he wore navy blue clothes with silver lining, a snowflake on top of a crown badge on his chest. Mel drew their sword and somehow managed to not impale themself. “Get away from Eli,” Mel growled, brandishing the blade.  
“That’s Their Royal Highness Elizabeth to you,” replied the boy.  
Eli rolled their eyes. “Nate, shut up. I’m on a job, can you come back later?”  
“No.”  
Eli glared at him. “As your Royal Highness, i command you to go to COM and wear normal clothes, for fuck’s sake. Shoo!”  
“More like Royal Annoyance,” the guy muttered as he bowed and walked towards the direction from where Mel and Eli had come. 

“Who the hell was that? Why was he pointing a knife at your throat?” Mel asked as they kept walking. Honestly why couldn’t they take a taxi?  
Eli waved a hand dismissively. “That was Nathaniel Stame, Head of my Royal Guard. He’s been my best friend since i was a kid. He was just being a dramatic idiot. I just hope he’s not in a bad mood. The last time he dropped in, Fire almost burned the place down. I’m pretty sure he broke a window.” they sighed. “Shall we keep going?”

They finally reached the park. “Why would a hydra be here?” Mel asked, looking around.  
Eli shrugged. “I’m from the Norse part of this world, all i know about hydras is from Rick Riordan books.”  
At that moment a loud hissing sound came from the lake. Slowly, a large dark brown thing with about 20 heads climbed out of the water. It’s body was a tail, breaking into 17 humongous snake heads which were all baring their incredibly sharp teeth. Mel and Eli both stood, petrified, hypnotized. “That’s...that’s not a Hydra,” Mel guessed.  
Eli raised an eyebrow. “Is that seriously the best you can do after all these days? Duh, that’s not a hydra. I think River once told me about something like this. Something about Krishna?”

"Yes, child", a voice said in Mel’s mind. "Krishna once stepped on my tail, and tried to kill me. The only thing that saved me was my wives-they begged him to spare me. Now i inhabit this small lake, even though i, Kaliya, was once the terror of the great Yamuna river, i almost killed Radha, and now i am in this disgusting little island. But you, child of the Underworld, can free me from here. Give me this legacy of Frey, and i can go back to my home, to my wives."

“Not gonna happen snakey boy. You’re going down!” Mel said and charged, Eli close behind them.  
"So be it," snarled Kaliya and slithered towards them like a humongous greased seal. Mel slashed at it’s heads blindly, not accomplishing anything, but instead getting grazed and bruised and confused. Eli wasn't faring any better. Under stress, they couldn’t transform, and had to try shooting and kicking which wasn’t working so well. Suddenly, there was a flash and Kaliya seemed to grow, Eli lunged and Kaliya grabbed their arm, pulling them in. before Mel could run to help, the snake had slithered back into the lake, with Eli. 

In another small flash, a note appeared on the bank of the lake. Picking it up, Mel saw it was written in cursive,

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 24 𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷 𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓬𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓰𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓼; 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓸𝓻𝓼𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓲𝓮.

Mel’s hands started shaking. Not sparing another thought or glance to anything, Mel broke into a sprint back to the Church of Mitch.


	6. Chapter 5: The Note

“Run this by me one more time,” said Alek as though they were trying to remain calm but wanted to punch a wall. “Kaliya took Eli, disappeared into the river, and nothing but a note showed up. And we have to give some demon legacy to them, and get Eli back. Yes?”

Mel sighed for the millionth time. “Yeah. what do we do now?”  
Kayla picked up the note, and immediately dropped it in disdain. “I should have known. The Wild Hunt.”  
Holli widened their eyes. “Oh no.”  
“Wait what’s the Wild Hunt?” Mel asked. 

Lars cleared his throat. “It’s basically the Mafia of the Faery kingdom. They follow no rules, listen to no one. They consist of faeries and elves, and hunt anything and everything that dares fall in their path. Should you meet them, you have three options, agree to join their hunt, fight one of them and win, or become prey. They’re ruthless and hate the faery kingdom. They spread the Black Plague, and most legends or stories with evil witches or gnomes and dwarves and faeries? All of them stem from members of the Hunt. they’re like light demons. They’re notorious for being bloodthirsty and always try to take back the faery kingdom as their ‘property’. If they took Eli as ransom, that may be their greater plan.” He leaned back and tugged on Holli’s hair playfully, then Holli slapped his hand away. 

“So who is this demon legacy? Do we just impregnate some demon and then send the kid to them?” Jay asked.  
Alek snorted. “If only it were that easy. It would take months for the child to be born, and we only have 24 hours. Plus, i don’t think that’s what they meant.”  
“How will we find them? They never gave an address,” said Mel, slowly realizing what the note wanted.  
“We’ll track it. We just gotta figure out who’s this demon legacy,” Alek replied rubbing their temples with their fingers.  
“Isn’t it obvious?” said Fire, after not talking for the last three hours that they had been talking. She was curled up in the couch with Felix and sounded like she had a head-cold. “Mel is the demon legacy.”

Everyone was silent. River laughed nervously. “Hey sis, maybe you should go take some rest, i know you’re tired-” 

“no, i’m not. I have a little prophecy power. I know what i’m talking about.” she stood up letting Felix go to Holli. She looked at Mel with her arms crossed, and Mel suddenly wished she was looking at literally anyone. The flames in her eyes, which were normally warm and under control, were now blazing and gave her an intensity Mel had never seen before.  
“Your powers, your colours, your eyes, everything matches with demon traits. We’re not saying it’s a bad thing, because not all demons are bad, but the faeries probably want you. Chances are that your parentage is that of light demons, or dark angels or something like that. According to the Faery Law, a Royal Demon of Light, as in, dark angels, can take the throne if they claim it. You’re probably the first Royal Demon legacy in centuries. How, i don’t know, but we have to take our best guess that they want to use you to take back the faery kingdom.”  
“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s give the demon over to them and be done with it,” said Nate, who had, like Fire, been silent the entire time.  
Mel raised an eyebrow at him. “How did i go from ‘peasant’ to ‘demon’?”

To his credit, he ignored them. “Our prime goal right now should be to get back Eli as quick as possible. Not just because they’re a member here, but as a matter of the royal family. If the princess is harmed, that could mean war between our people and yours. Surely you don’t want that,” he said to Alek.

“It sounds to me, Nathaniel, like you’re threatening us. Now i hope that’s not the case, because i would hate to ruin your hairstyle right now. Tell me, what gel do you use?” Fire said, her tone deadly calm.  
Nate sneered at her. “Eli should have known better than consorting with someone like you, what with your past. Tell me, do they know what you’ve done? Does anyone here know what a traitor you are?”  
In a whirl of movement, Fire was on top of Nate, the point of her knife at his throat. “Give me a reason,” she growled. “And i swear i will cut your head off, diplomacy be damned-”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Mel yelled, pulling Fire off of Nate. “we’re not getting anywhere, squabbling amongst ourselves. We need to figure out a plan to get Eli back.”  
Nate glared at them. “I thought we already decided. We’re giving you in exchange for Eli.”  
“Not. likely,” Alek snapped.  
Nate threw his hands up in frustration. “Look, it’s my job to protect Eli and i’ll do whatever it takes to get them back. I don’t care for the consequences.” 

“He’s right,” Mel said. “It’s a matter of the greater good to get Eli back. I’ve been here for what, a month? Eli has been here for four years. I have to do this.”  
“Of all the times to be chivalrous and brave, you choose now?” Holli said incredulously.  
“If not now, when?” Mel replied.  
“Never. Because i have a plan,” Fire said, wrenching Felix out of River’s grip.  
“I’m sorry, you have a plan? What happened to your ‘stab first, figure things out later’ thing?” asked River.  
“Nothing. I’m gonna kick the crap out of those faeries. But first, we gotta help Eli from the inside.” taking out a knife, Fire placed it in front of Felix. Right before their eyes, Felix swallowed the knife.  
“What the fuck?” Alek said.  
Fire didn’t reply, and instead looked into the cat’s eyes for a few seconds in silence. Then, Felix ran off, and jumped out of the window. Satisfied, Fire nodded and turned to the rest of them. “We’d better start working. Since Mel is so eager to be a hero, they’ll be the bait.”

***  
Eli paced the small cell they had been given. There was a bucket in the corner and a tiny cot. And of course, the door, in which runes were carved in. This miffed Eli, since if they tried to get out by force, it would burn them so badly that the burns wouldn’t heal for years to come. The only other way out was the vent above, which Eli could reach if they jumped, but knowing the faeries, they knew heroes too well and had blocked the exit. Sighing, Eli collapsed onto the cot. Closing their eyes, Eli almost relaxed. Thank the gods they didn’t, seeing as if they hadn’t moved immediately, the vent bars would have fallen on their face.  
“Miaow.”  
“Felix!” Eli scrambled up and caught the cat. “Man, am i glad to see you. How did you even get here, you adorable cat?”  
In response, Felix coughed up a knife, and a note that was somehow in perfect condition. The knife was clearly from the COM armory. The note was in Fire’s hurried scrawl. 

𝐻𝑒𝓎, 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈,  
𝒮𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝓌𝑒’𝓇𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊.  
𝒟𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓅𝒾𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃𝒶𝓁.  
𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝑒

Smiling, Eli tucked the knife into their secret pocket, along with the note. Maybe they had a shot. “Okay, you gotta go. I don’t think their spells affect you, but they’d definitely hurt me. If i don’t come back, go to Alek. they’re the only one i trust with you.”  
Immediately, Felix jumped back into the vents and ran off. 

Hours later, still nothing had happened. They had been pacing for so long, every square inch of the room was already memorized.  
Finally, after what seemed like days, the door opened, and in came a girl with large butterfly wings, white gear with silver swirls as designs, long black hair parted down the middle and brown skin like Fire’s but her eyes had none of Fire’s intensity, and was shorter than Eli’s hot-head girlfriend.. Instead they were stormy grey, and her gear implied she was an air mage. She was clearly a faery, with her pointy ears. “My name is Feyre. I’m here to help you.”  
Eli raised their eyebrows. “Didn’t you kidnap me?”

“The Hunt kidnapped you. And me, for that matter. But you’re the Dragon Princess, and air mages are descended from dragons so technically, you are my leader much more than the leaders of the Hunt are. Get up. We have to get you out of here.”  
“But i’m only half dragon. Why do you care about me?” Eli asked.  
Feyre sighed. “These people killed my sister. I want to be more than just another faery bastard to this world. I want to learn how to properly be a mage. You’re from the Order, aren’t you? All i ask is that you let me come to the branch of the Order here. Please?”  
Eli tried to see where the trick or lie was. “Fine. what do we do?”  
“Faeries are sympathetic only to one being: mothers. If you pretended to, say be preg-”  
“Say no more,” Eli smirked. “We’re going to get along very well.”


	7. Chapter 6: The Brilliant Crack-Plan of Doom

“This is never going to work,” Nate said, looking over the chains.  
“This would be a great time to give a better idea, then,” Fire replied, her eyes glinting. “What’s wrong, Stame? Cat got your tongue?” Mel asked, smirking.   
“Are you sure you’re up for this, Engel? You might die,” replied Nate.   
“Everyone dies someday. At least this is for a good cause.”   
“Quit being an angsty edgelord, that’s stealing my brand,” Fire said, dragging Mel along with one of the chains towards the building to which they had been led. Fire knocked on the door and it swung open. “Well that’s cliched,” Mel said mildly. 

As they entered, torches ran along the corridor, lighting up there way to a large round room where faery soldiers with swords and bows and arrows stood at attention. In the centre of the room stood a woman with lovely brown locks flowing down her back, a crown of laurel leaves on her head, and a quiver of arrows strapped to her back. She had a beautiful face with angular cheekbones, and a haughty expression. Next to her stood a young man who looked incredibly uncomfortable, and on her other side was a girl in white clothes and silver swirls, an air mage. 

“Lady Aine, I assume you know why we’re here,” Fire said evenly.   
“Ah, yes. You’re here for the dragon. Of course, we’ve kept her well, seeing as she is in a delicate condition. Is that the demon?”   
“Yes. what do you mean delicate position? What have you done to them?” Nate snarled at the woman.   
“Don’t play the fool with me. I assume you’re the reason for it. Another bastard for this world,” Lady Aine said, a smug smile on her face. She waved her hand at the girl. “Feyre, bring in our guest.” 

A minute of awkward, tense silence later, Feyre reappeared, this time with Eli in tow. But...was that Eli?  
A swollen belly appeared, and that’s where Mel’s eyes went. Eli...was pregnant.   
But then, Mel saw a pointy blue tip sticking out of Eli’s shirt. So it was Eli’s tail. Mel almost laughed aloud, but forced themselves to keep a neutral face. Fire, was less good at restraining her emotions. She ran towards Eli, until she saw the belly and immediately stopped. From their place, Mel couldn’t see Fire’s face but apparently Fire got over her shock.   
“Alvario, dear, please get our dear Melanie over here. It’s time to take back what is ours. Feyre, let the dragon go,” Lady Aine ordered. As the guy moved towards Mel, Nate nudged Mel with his foot. Alvario grabbed one of the chains binding Mel, and started pulling. Fire grabbed Eli and started walking towards Nate. Fire met Mel’s eyes, wait. Mel nodded as infinitesimally as they could. The walk between the two sides felt like it was taking forever. Finally, they reached the middle, meeting with Fire and Eli. “Wait,” Mel said. “I want to thank you both for all you’ve done. I shall remember these days with you for however long i live. You gave me hope. If ever the heavens wanted to prevent anything like this from happening, i’m sure we would see a sign from the skies.” Mel looked up, and smiled.   
Fire smiled. “You’re right. I’m sure if the gods wished to intercede they would AT THIS MOMENT RIGHT NOW.”  
Lady Aine frowned. “What are you talking about? Alvario, bring the demon here right now-”

And then, the ceiling exploded and in dropped Holli, Lars, River, Kayla, Alek and Moony, who was holding an enlarged boombox. Fire dragged Eli to Nate and shoved them out of harm’s way. Feyre ran to Eli, “Honor your promise, Princess!”   
Not thinking anything, Eli grabbed Feyre’s hand.   
“What-what is this?” Lady Aine exclaimed.   
“This. Is. the Church of Mitch. We leave none of our family behind. And you’re about to find out what happens if you mess with us,” Said Alek, and pressed play on the boombox. 

‘Single Ladies’ by Destiny’s Child started playing and the dance they had choreographed all night was finally prefect. Everyone did their moves perfectly, Lars grinded and Alek twirled, and when the song switched to a mashup of ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and ‘Turn Down For What’ Holli, River and Kayla took the front and did so well, Mel almost couldn’t do the job they were supposed to be doing with Fire and Nate. They blocked all the doors and windows, so no one could enter to help. The Hunt would find out soon enough, and they had to be out by then. Fire was running around, setting explosives in every corner. Lady Aine was too shell-shocked and mystified to say or do anything. Finally, the songs ended, and Mel grabbed Alek and Moony and ran out, screaming at Eli to get going, and ran out into the streets with the others. Two minutes later, Fire and Alvario ran out, and a few seconds after she had staggered into the streets, the building exploded. 

Eli collapsed against a wall. “What the hell just happened?”  
“Why are you pregnant?” Holli asked.   
Eli rolled their eyes, unfurling the tail from their shirt. “They were nicer to me when they saw i was pregnant. Feyre helped me out.”  
“Speaking of which,” Lars interjected, “Why are these two-” he pointed at Feyre and Alvario “-even here? Are we consorting with dark angels after all they’ve done?”  
Feyre regarded him. “I am a child of air, and i wish to learn from the Order. I want a new family. Alvario may be a dark angel, but he has been a slave to them, mistreated and beaten. Either you take us both in, or you kill us.”  
Fire looked appraisingly at Feyre. “You helped Eli?”  
Feyre nodded.   
“You want to be a mage?”  
Feyre nodded.   
Fire nodded back. “I’ll vouch for them.” she looked around, daring anyone to speak. A sob broke out from Feyre, and Fire immediately rushed to her, and embraced her, whispering kindly into her ear.

Mel sat down on the ground next to Eli. “you okay?”  
Eli looked at them and smiled. Then giggled, until they were full-on doubling over with laughter. Mel couldn’t help it and started laughing too. Within seconds they were all giggling like they were high.   
Nate sighed contently and leaned back on the wall. “That was a bit too close.” and they started laughing again, with more vigour.   
Slowly, they made their way out of the little alley of their refuge and started walking back to COM, and Mel felt like they were part of a normal, close group of friends. Mel even felt love towards Feyre and Alvario, who were walking hand in hand, laughing and smiling, like they could finally relax. Eli and Fire were also walking together, hands entwined, Fire walking ahead and pulling on Eli, jumping over puddles together. Mel felt some tension leave their shoulders. Moony looped an arm around Mel, and River did the same on Mel’s other side. Alek and Kayla were laughing at something or other. Holli and Lars were trying to push each other onto the road. Mel closed their eyes. 

“Fire! Stop!” they all turned.   
Mari was running towards them, fear etched all over her face, panting. Fire drew her knife.   
“What do you want, Mari?”   
Mari reached them, and Mel saw there were tears running down her face. “You guys blew up the Hunt’s base?”   
“Yeah?”  
Mari gulped. “Well, there’s this gigantic thing growing out of it. My group and i were passing and some monster just flew out and killed all of them-” she started sobbing violently. “I’m the only one who could get out of its reach. It just flew back to the thing.”   
Just then, a tremor shook the ground. Then another. “W-what’s happening?” Kayla asked, her eyes wide.   
Alek looked back in the direction of the base, their face white. “No. It can’t be.”  
“Alek, what is it?” Eli asked.   
An ear-splitting shriek rang through the streets, followed by some sort of metal-scraping-on-gravel sort of sound. It took a second for Mel to realize it was someone laughing.   
Mel looked at Mari, then grabbed her hand. “We gotta get outta here.”   
Not needing anything else, they all broke into a run towards the Church of Mitch.


	8. Chapter 7: The Envoy from the Order

“You just have to try harder, Toprak. You don’t believe in yourself, that’s the problem. Get up, we’re doing that again,” Fire said as she kicked Mari up for the third time. “Move it, water bender.”  
Mari growled at Fire. “shut up, Ray.”  
Mel smiled as they went back to sketching a fake tattoo onto River’s arm. Mari had truly managed to incorporate herself into COM nicely, even Alek was coming around to her. She was working herself to the bone to not cope with her grief at losing her friends, but Mel and Fire had vouched for her. Feyre and Alvario had also settled in well. Everything was fine.

And yet, everything was so not fine.   
Sam’s condition had worsened, and Mari had admitted to not knowing any antidote under a truth serum. They had sent a message to the Order in their main base at Delphi, and were now awaiting their instructions. Sam, Alek, and Holli had tried to figure out what they had unleashed when they blew up the faery base, to no avail. 

Worst of all, Mel’s powers were starting to evolve. If they concentrated hard enough, they could send tremors of fear through to people, bring about darkness, and even solidify and hone the darkness into a weapon. The first time Mel had tried defending themself with a sword made out of pure black energy, Fire had almost died. They were starting to get the hang of the wings though, but everyday Mel woke up with one thought, i don’t belong here.   
Every night they dreamt of a dry, dark terrain, a broken wasteland, the sky thick with dark red smog; a tower piercing the darkness through the fog. A voice would speak in Mel’s mind, your time approaches, my child. Are you sure you’re ready for the sacrifice in your path? 

Other times, Mel heard the rock-on-gravel laugh from the faery base. Try all you wish, little demon child. In the end, you will fall into my clutches.   
And Mel would fall, and fall, further into the darkness. 

***

Mel entered the meeting room attached to Sam’s room, where Alek, Sam, Moony, Eli, and Alvario were already seated. Sam looked up when Mel entered, and smiled genially. “Hello, Melanie. I hope you’re doing well here.”  
“Very well, thanks, Sam. How are you?”  
Sam sighed and leaned back with a lot of effort. “As well as one can when they’re aging fifty years a day. Sit, Melanie. We have a lot to discuss, and the envoy from the Order is arriving soon.”

“Shouldn’t Fire be here?” Mel asked, pulling up a seat next to Alek.   
“Yes, but given the circumstances of our visit, we decided it would be better to keep her away for the time being,” Alek said, fidgeting. Only then did Mel realize Alek was avoiding eye contact with Sam, who was giving Alek an exasperated look. “She’s not a child, Alek.”  
“Yes she is!” Alek burst out. “She is just a kid, and so is River and i honestly can’t believe, that after all that’s happened, you would ever allow this to happen.”  
Sam shook her head. “She’s strong, and he wants forgiveness. I’m not saying he deserves it, but Fire can be level-headed enough to be here. You’re coddling her.”  
Alek finally looked up. “Because no one else will! She is not as strong as she makes herself out to be, Sam! Do you seriously think-”

But right then there was a flash, and a loud bang sound, and suddenly, right in front of their eyes two people appeared. One was a woman with a tanned complexion, long dark brown hair and warm hazel eyes. She wore golden robes with sunbursts on the neckline, and there was a number of knives lining her waist. The other was a man who was ruggedly handsome, with dark brown hair and beard, dark brown eyes, and also a tanned complexion, probably in his early forties, and looked like a nice, normal guy except for the sword in the scabbard at his waist and his un-glamoured wings. They looked like Alek’s wings, but gold tipped white feathered wings. But his eyes…  
His eyes held the same blazing fire Mel had only seen somewhere else.  
On someone else.   
Fire. 

“Hello, all. Samantha, i am so sorry for bothering you like this, i understand you are unwell. My name is Madeleine Smith, and i am a the Inquisitor of the Order. This is my brother, Andrew Smith, he is our Chief General.”  
There was a silence. Then Sam spoke, “Madeleine, it is good to see you again, my old friend. Allow me to introduce you to a fraction of my students. Of course, you know Alek, this is Rita Deus, child of Luna, Princess Elizabeth of the Norse Kingdom, Alvario, a new addition, he is a of the Faery Realm. And this, is Melanie Engel, our daemon legacy. The other’s are downstairs.”  
Andrew smiled and Mel felt their skin crawl. It was odd seeing Fire’s regular smirk on such wrong features. “Samantha, we are tired. Perhaps we should retire and meet for dinner later?”   
“Yes, of course.”  
He continued, “and i hope i’m not going too far here, but i would like to see them. Both of them.”  
Alek cleared their throat, “i’m afraid that’s not possible-”

Fire strutted in, a glint in her eyes like she had whenever she had won a few rounds by sword. Mari followed close behind. “Sorry, Sam, i didn’t mean to be late. Are they-” she stopped as she looked at Madeleine. “Aunt Maddie! I was hoping they’d send you!” she ran to hug Madeleine, who embraced Fire as if she were her own daughter. “My, how you’ve grown, Nree!”   
“Aunt?” Eli asked, eyes wide.   
“Nree,” Andrew said, his voice a whisper.   
Fire looked at him, and her face went through a series of emotions: fear, disbelief, anger, then a mask of restrained calm.   
Andrew came forward tentatively and Mel wanted to yell at him to back down. There was a high chance Fire would kick him out a window.   
What had Nate said? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦?

He spread his arms. “My dear girl, i-”  
Fire moved back so fast, she bumped into the coffee machine. He kept moving towards her, and Mel got the feeling that if someone didn’t intervene, this was going to go downhill fast.   
As discreetly as they could, they drew the practice dagger in their sheath. One signal from Fire, and they were ready to make sure Andrew didn’t have functional legs for a good few weeks. A glance at Eli and Mel knew they were thinking the same thing. Fire had backed into the curtains. “What are you doing here?”   
Andrew sighed. “I’m here on orders from the Order, but i came here to protect you, and River-”  
“Don’t you dare,” Fire snarled. “Don’t you dare speak their name. Leave. Now.”   
“Fire, please calm down,” Sam tried. “If he’s here from the Order, there’s nothing we can do about it-”  
“Don’t even act like you’re sympathetic, Sam. you swore you would never let him near us,” Fire glared at Sam with such hatred, Sam seemed to age a few years in those few seconds.   
Alek got up and walked to Fire, placing an arm around her, and whispered soothingly to her, but fire detached herself quickly and went to the door. She turned to look at Andrew. “I don’t know you. I don’t want to see you, talk to you, or be near you.and you’re not going anywhere near River. I’d rather die than let you back into our lives.” she opened the door and made to get out.   
“You can’t turn your back on your own father, your own blood, Nree. Please-”  
Fast as lightning, a knife flew through the air, pinning Andrew to the wall by his shirt. Fire turned, and Mel was astounded to see tears running down her face. “My mother sends her regards.” and then she was gone.   
Eli ran after her, leaving the rest of them in a shocked silence. 

Madeleine sat down hard. “I honestly don’t know what you expected, Andrew-”  
“Um,” Mel started. “What just happened? Who are you?”   
Andrew regarded Mel with those insane eyes.   
Madeleine interjected quickly, “i think the better question, my dear, is who are you? Why do the evil beings want you, in particular?”   
Mel shrugged. “Maybe they have good taste.”   
Alek cleared their throat. “Actually, Madam Inquisitor, Mel is a demon legacy.”  
“Clearly, but demon legacies are usually less powerful. From what I've heard, Melanie is quite powerful.”  
“Then she’s the child of quite a powerful demon,” Andrew said approvingly.   
Mel suddenly felt sick. “They.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“They’re the child of a powerful demon.”  
Andrew made a face and finally it clicked what put them off about this man. He was not just an asshole, but he was a homophobe. Mel had dealt with the nuns of Greenwood, and doctors and most adults when they heard about Mel’s pronouns. It made sense why Fire would hate her father. Mel hated him. Anyone at COM would hate him.

Madeleine continued, “Mel, do you know who your parents are?”  
“No. I lived in an orphanage all my life. I never knew my parents.”   
“Sounds familiar. Most demons aren’t good parental figures,” Madeleine said sympathetically. “Nevertheless, we must see that your training goes well. As far as we know, the thing you unleashed was not a thing per se.”  
“What do you mean?” Moony asked.   
Madeleine looked at Moony. “The faery base was over the Gates of Tartarus. By destroying the faeries base, you have revealed the Gates of Tartarus. According to the seers in Delphi, they will fully open in exactly one moon cycle from today, or 27 days. Until then, we must gather our forces, train harder than ever before. And you, Mel,” Madeleine gave them a smile that reminded Mel so much of Fire it hurt. “You will be our secret weapon.” 

***  
Within a week, Mel felt like banging their head against a wall repeatedly. The COM was filling up with troops of mages and demigods from around the world. Mel had been having one one one training sessions with Madeleine since the day the envoy had arrived. Slowly, Mel felt more in control than they had before. Madeleine was trying hard to find Mel’s true parentage.   
“It’s almost like someone doesn’t want us to know your parentage,” she said one day, mystified after searching through Mel’s mind. “Oh well. I guess i’ll be your new mother, then.”  
Mel grinned. “Fire and River are so lucky to have you as family.”   
“I honestly think that’s not a compliment seeing as how their family has turned out.”  
“What happened to them?” no one had given Mel a solid answer.   
“Maybe you should ask her.” 

Fire was another story. She trained all day and all night, barely ate. After Andrew had ventured to talk to River, he told her the truth: he was alive, Fire had wiped River’s memories of him and now he was back. River, enraged, had a screaming match with Fire and had run off to Andrew. They hadn’t spoken to each other at all. Now, River followed Andrew around everywhere as if lost.   
“They’ve never had a father figure, and not listening to Fire is a bad idea, considering what an asshole Andrew is,” Alek confided in Mel. 

Mel tried to talk some sense into River. “Look, i know you’re mad, but consider the premise. Why didn’t he come visit you all these years when all he could do was tell the Order he wanted a vacation and come visit you? Fire was just trying to protect you-”  
“No, she was being selfish! He was busy and couldn’t give time to us, so she erased my memories? I’m never going to forgive her.” Then, River went back to making a snow cone  
Nothing anyone did could get the two to talk to each other. Mari and Eli were constantly with Fire, while Alek seemed to be running back and forth trying their very best to restore order. 

On top of everything else, Sam had now taken to her room to meditate, but Mel knew perfectly well it was not going as planned. She was weaker than ever and her hair had gone fully grey, wrinkles had started to form around her eyes. Even so, her optimism kept Mel going. 

10 days after Madeleine and Andrew arrived, Mel walked into the dining room (which Alek had somehow managed to keep free from the other mages pouring in) for dinner and saw everyone sitting around while River and Fire screamed at each other from two ends of the room. Holli, Moony and Kayla were amusing themselves by making a mashed potato tower, Lars and Jay had taken to playing a meek game of silent Rock, Paper, Scissors, Eli, Mari, and Alek were trying to pull River out of the room, and Madeleine and Andrew were sitting at the dining table trying to look as innocent as possible. Feyre and Alvario were in New York, trying to get more mages to come to London.   
River yelled, “you know nothing about the value of a true family! You are nothing but a cold-hearted bitch!”  
Fire sneered, and pointed at Andrew. “And you think he does? He abandoned us River! He threw both of us out onto the streets!”   
“Liar!”   
“He left us with that drunken whore, Rachel and their bastard child because he is such a fucking bigoted sexist piece of crap that he couldn’t even take us with him to Delphi! He left us to die!”  
“No!” 

Suddenly, an odd feeling came over Mel, like when they had first learned of their powers. The room seemed to disappear and all Mel could hear was the pounding of blood in their own ears, and Andrew’s fiery eyes. They locked eyes, and suddenly Mel was transported into a memory. 

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘺. 𝘈 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.   
𝘈 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭, 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭, 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵.   
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘔𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵; 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯.   
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯, 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵.   
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭, 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯, 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴.   
𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯-𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘔𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳.   
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴, 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘺𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴. 𝘈 𝘱𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴.

With a gasp, Mel pulled themselves out of Andrew’s mind. Monster, they thought. A surge of anger coursed through Mel.  
They marched around to the table, grabbed Andrew by the shirt collar, and slammed him into a wall. Everyone was so shocked, River and Fire stopped yelling to look.   
“You are nothing but a disgusting piece of vermin,” Mel growled. “You abused your daughters, left them in an abusive household, threw them out onto the streets and slammed your door in their faces! Do you honestly think you have the right to call yourself their father anymore?” Mel drew a knife made of darkness from the air. “I should chop off your worthless head right now. You don’t deserve River or Fire in your life, after what you’ve done.” they put the tip of the knife at Andrews chin. They could see sweat running down his face. They felt the weight of their wings, horns and tail unfurling, they felt the darkness around them, and knew their eyes were glowing a harsh red. They could see it all mirrored in the fear of Andrew’s eyes. “But i won’t. This is Fire and River’s fight to fight.” Mel dropped Andrew, and he fell into a crumpled heap on the floor. 

Fire walked slowly to Mel. “Mel how―how did you know all that?”   
“I read his mind.”  
“You―you what?”   
“Yeah,” Mel suddenly felt uncomfortable with everyone’s attention on them. “I don’t know how.”  
“It doesn’t matter,” said River. “Dad―was that all true? Did you do that?”  
Andrew looked up, trying for a smile. “River, darling, i assure you, i would never-”  
“Save it,” Eli snarled, and walked up to River with a little bottle in their hands. “Drink that. They’re your memories.”  
Looking dubious, River uncorked the bottle and downed it in one go.   
Nothing happened.   
Lars snorted. “Was that supposed to do anything, or…?”  
River shrugged. “I feel fine-” they doubled over, as if they had been sucker punched. Mel and Fire grabbed them and lowered them onto a chair, where they promptly fell to the floor and started writhing in pain. After a few minutes, it stopped. They looked up, and Andrew crawled over to River. “River please, i can explain-”  
River scrambled away from him and stood up. “You did all of that. You―you’re the one who’s evil, not Fire.”  
“River, please-”  
River raised their hands and he choked mid sentence. Water started pouring down from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. It was sickening to watch. He started choking harder and fell on his side. “I remember everything. You killed mum. You beat up Fire. You left us with Rachel. You abandoned us.”  
River dropped their hand. “You’re not my family. You’re not my anything.” they kicked him in the gut. 

Andrew managed to pick himself up. “You have made a powerful enemy, demon child. Be careful,” he said to Mel and then limped out.   
River gingerly came up to Mel and gave them a big hug. “What’s this for?”   
“For dragging me out of the dark,” River replied, before tackling Fire in a tearful hug. A big cheer went up from everyone. “Now can we please have dinner?” Jay begged.   
They were all sitting down, laughing and cracking jokes, like a normal family when a tremor shook the ground. Then another. Then another. 

Madeleine gulped. “It’s starting.”  
“What’s starting?” Alek asked.  
“The Gates Of Tartarus are starting to open. Doomsday is near.”


	9. Chapter 8: Sam

Almost immediately after they felt the first tremors of the Gates opening, earthquakes became regular things. Mel and Moony went to buy a few bucket-loads of duct tape for the COM.

Everyone had become on edge. There were frequent proposals and dates happening, as most people expected to die fighting. This was so depressing Mel spent most of their time with Eli and Fire who, despite being incredibly clingy with each other, still managed to keep up a good supply of light-hearted banter, and made Mel feel included rather than a third-wheeler.  
Andrew had disappeared. Madeleine told them that he would be back in time for the battle, he just had to deal with some business in Delphi. Mel knew that he just couldn’t hold his head up after the whole dining room fiasco.  
Madeleine kept trying to go farther and farther with Mel’s training. She had them summoning a dark sword in the middle of a leap, read minds from a different side of the room, fly faster than Alek and Fire, and jump off Eli while the Princess was in dragon form.  
“If you’re going to be our Achilles, we can’t let you have a heel,” she had said to Mel one morning.  
Mel was still sleepy and misunderstood. “You’re gonna cut off my ankles?”

What was more, there were multiple disappearances in the general area of the Gates. There was so much police activity, they had to do guard duty with full body glamours, which took so much energy from them that whenever Mel had a shift, they came home exhausted to the bone.

On one particular day, about five days before their Convenient Deadline of Death, Alek sent Mel, Jay and Kayla to the ever-growing basement of COM to get some more weapons and see if they could find some weapons or scrolls and spells that might help. Mel knew they were just doing it to keep everyone’s mind off of impending doom, but agreed to do it anyways because they really did need something to take their mind off of aforementioned impending doom.  
“Okay, Kayla take the right side, I’ll take center, and Mel you take the left side,” Jay said, examining the room. It was filled with odd shelves, piles of books on top of tables and rickety chairs, trunks and boxes with neat labeling on them. Mel rummaged through a few books and scrolls explaining how to cure the plague, syphilis, smallpox, etc. and a few ink-signed copies of William Shakespeare’s plays. Sam really has been alive for centuries, Mel thought, as they put aside a box filled with potions and scrolls for healing and summoning magical items to take up. Then they saw it.  
A trunk in the very corner of the room, locked and bolted. For some reason, this appealed to Mel.  
_Hey, poke around until you find trouble,_ Mel thought with a shrug to themselves. _Jesus, I've spent too much time with Fire._  
Upon approaching, Mel realized there were seriously fatal hexes around the chest. But it was so tempting, Mel summoned a knife of darkness (which wasn’t hard, considering how dark the surroundings were) and slashed through the chains. Surprisingly, Mel wasn’t killed or turned into a donkey or an aardvark. Mel pushed open the chest and found...paper.

There was a bundle of pictures, which Mel first took out and rifled through. Upon close inspection, it was River and Fire as kids, along with Alek and a few other different faces. They dated back to when Fire was 6, the week they two of them came to COM, and onward. Mel finally realized how long COM had been around. It had been around so long, finding so many legacies, demigods, and creatures of magic. And Mel was a part of that. Mel rifled through a few more pictures, like the ones with Alek and Fire, or Alek and River asleep on the couch, a book falling out of River’s hand, Sam and Fire laughing over something they saw, and one family picture of them, dated to River’s 9th birthday.  
Smiling, Mel put the bundle on the pile to take back upstairs. Rummaging through more, a few more bundles of pictures came out, of different timelines, some of them portraits, and Mel realized that throughout all these years, Sam had been the mentor, parent of everyone who came through these doors. Rummaging through some of the pictures, Mel was astounded to see people they themselves knew, like Daniel Craig, Freddie Mercury, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Amy Winehouse and Bonnie Tyler. Leaving these in the chest, Mel found a bundle of letters, which they promptly opened. They dated back to 2001, January.

_January 9, 2001_

 

_My dearest,_

_I am finding it harder and harder to come into this mortal world. The lords ―Zeus, Odin, Indra, Horus―they have decreed for all of us to retreat back to where we came from. Enough destruction has been sowed here. They are making more and more rules, and i don’t know if even i will be able to stay. They say that this is for the cosmos to stay intact, and i find somehow that i agree. A terrible thing about us dark beings, we destroy without thinking, until there is nothing left. This pains me greatly my love, but i must go soon. I have agreed to these Accords, but i doubt the giants, lesser demons and the Hunt will agree as easily as i did. The truth is, i am weary of this world. I wish to return to my land._

_We knew this day would come, didn’t we? Regardless, i will come down to you and your little school and stay with you for a few months. I doubt Zeus has found out about us, but even so we must be careful, Samantha. There is nothing in this realm or the next that could possibly keep me from loving you. Since i was tossed down from the heavens like a broken, unwanted toy, i have not known love. I have not known companionship. But then i met you, and suddenly there was light in my life. You, daughter of Zeus, have given me so much in such little time. I will always be grateful to you. You brought heaven to me, Samantha. I’ll see you soon._

_Your King_

  


_January 11, 2001_

 

_My love,_

_My father himself summoned me to tell me of the news. Then Aphrodite. She offered to take me back to Olympus but i told her i didn’t want to. I have found peace here._

_I wish these didn’t have to happen, but i know it’s for the best. After two wars, the Great Depression, and all these assassinations, we cannot hope to ever find peace without distancing ourselves. Humans, they may be annoying and odd and fast to anger, but we depend on them to believe in us. Otherwise, what are we?_

_Dearest, be careful. Please, i can’t bear to see you punished for me. Everything here is quite hectic, and fewer of my children come home after a demon raid. I worry for this world. These rules are our only hope._

_I await you here, my love._

_Samantha_

 

Sam’s one’s were short and to the point, while the man’s ones were long and descriptive. It went on like this for almost a hundred letters, until Mel realized the last few were all from Sam to the man, no replies. The very last one went:   
  


_September 15, 2001_

 

_Dearest,_

_Zeus has found out about the child. It’s been a day, but i shouldn’t be surprised. After the spring equinox, i haven’t seen you, and the accords have been seen to be followed. But the birth of a child of both Heaven and Hell would catch his eye, i suppose. I’m going to leave our child somewhere safe, as per my father’s orders. I hope this reaches you somehow. It hurts me to part with my child. I’m not going to tell you it’s name, i don’t want some demon to catch hold of it and find them. And i don’t want you to find it either. It’s too risky._

_However, i want you to remember me. I want you to see our beautiful child. So i’ve enclosed a gift here._

_I have loved you for years, my love. Even before i knew you, i knew we were meant to be. I love you, forever and always._

_Samantha_

Attached to the letter was a picture of Sam in a lovely summer dress, a teeny-tiny newborn baby in her arms, swaddled in a cute plain red blanket. Next to her stood a man wearing a tailor-cut suit with his arm around Sam. he was handsome like an angel was beautiful, ethereal and lovely. His eyes were like Mel’s, all different colors, and his hair a lovely shade of brown.  
Mel left all of these in the chest. It was too personal to bring up. Hours later, Mel had brought up four box-loads of weapons, helpful books, and potions up to the surface.

After depositing them in the common room, Mel practically sprinted up to Sam’s room and threw open the door. “You were in love with a demon.”  
Sam looked up, mystified. “Excuse me?”  
Mel explained the letters and the picture. Sam sighed dejectedly. Mel realized how much she had aged. She look about 60 years old. She motioned for Mel to sit down. “I haven’t been honest with you all.”  
“Your child,” Mel started tentatively. “They were born around the same time as me.”  
Sam smiled. “I haven’t been particularly honest with you. I knew your mother. And your father, for that matter. They were wonderful people, the best friends i had ever had. When your mother died, your father couldn’t bear to keep you, and he was not allowed to keep you, for that matter. He gave you to me, and there you were, a cute little fluff, and i left you at that orphanage.”  
“Why?”  
“I was caught in having a demon child. If i had brought home another one, my father would have struck us both down and asked questions later. The Accords were taken seriously in the beginning.”  
“Clearly not anymore.”  
Sam smiled ruefully. “The demons broke out. They didn’t want to be kept locked up, they wanted to reap destruction across every realm. Their last hurrah was the 9/11 tragedy. They broke out a few years later when what humans call the Syrian War started. And we’ve had to train harder than ever before.”  
Mel wondered if they should go on. “Sam, who was my father?”  
“I can’t and won’t tell you that. You’ll have to find out for yourself.” typical.  
“Then who was the guy you were with?”  
Sam smiled wistfully. “I am forbidden to speak his name. He was a good man.” she sighed. “I miss him everyday.”  
Mel’s heart hurt for Sam. thousands of years, and when she finally found her true love, he was snatched away from her. It wasn’t fair.  
“Sam, i’m so sorry.”  
Sam patted Mel’s cheek. “Promise me something.”  
“Shoot.”  
“Never be ashamed of who you are. Don’t be afraid of your power. Embrace it. If you can tap into your true self, your true powers fully, then, well,” Sam seemed to look like a young college girl cracking a master heist plan. “I believe you shall be the most formidable of our warriors.”


	10. Chapter 9: The Gates of Tartarus

The day before the Gates opened, River and Mari approached Mel with winning smiles. “Hey, Mel. watcha’ doin’?” asked Mari casually. Mel had never noticed how strong her Queens accent was.  
“Uh, i’m just reading.”  
“Well, we need a favor.”  
Mel sighed. “Of course you do. What is it?”  
“Well, since we all might die tomorrow, we were planning to give Elfire a little last hurrah magical date.. And we need you to cause a diversion.”  
Mel groaned. “Why me?”  
“Because everyone else is doing something else for this and you’re the only one left.. You are perfect because you can hide us with darkness, and because you’re my bestest friend ever and i love you more than I've ever loved anything before and-”  
“Drop the flattery, Mari, it doesn’t suit you,” Mel said. “Why do i need to hide you if it’s their date?”  
River smiled in a way that reminded Mel uncannily of Fire. “because we need to make sure everything goes perfectly and they don’t suspect.”  
Mel rolled their eyes. “Fine.”

A few hours later, everything was set. Holli had managed to summon a gondola, Jay had whipped up a lovely array of dishes and packed them all up, they had decorated two separate paths for the two of them, fairly lights had been set on the bridge and there were rose petals being dropped by Alek and Mel on cue. After they had rehearsed a few times, they went back to COM, leaving Jay and Lars on guard duty. River and Mari managed to lure Fire away from the training room and into clean, nice clothes before hustling her out of COM shrouded by darkness.  
Then, Alek, Holli, and Kayla went to work on Eli, while Mel stood guard. Soon, Eli emerged in a cute dress and heels, and looked at Mel. “what the hell is going on?”  
“Beats me, kiddo. Shall we?”  
Eli reluctantly obliged.

They had chosen a nearby park with it’s cute lake and bridge for the date. When they arrived at the gate, Mel gave Eli a little nudge towards the gate, which was decorated with garlands, and hurried off to their hiding place. Watching, they saw Eli walk down the rose petal path which was lit by candles to where Fire was standing. They talked for a few seconds, before boarding the gondola. From the other side of the lake, Alek started moving the boat from their hiding place. Slowly, the plan went into action. River made sure the currents stayed smooth, Alek and Mel floated a little out of seeing range and dropped petals from above. Jay had made sure to pack all the things the two of them loved. After a while, it seemed that Fire kept glancing up. At one point, she said loudly. “It’s so nice to know our friends love us so much that they would do this. If only they were here so we could tell them.”  
And Mel knew that she knew. Slowly they backed off, leaving them alone. They all traipsed back to COM, and when Mel look down one last time, they saw Eli and Fire cuddled up next to each other, watching the stars and talking. Smiling, Mel flew into the dark of the night. 

***

At two o’clock in the morning, Mel was roughly shaken awake by Fire and Alek. “is it time yet?” they asked groggily.  
“No. get up, emergency COM meeting in my room,” Fire said, tossing them a granola bar before flouncing out. Mel looked at Alek. “didn’t we leave her on a boat?”

Fifteen minutes later, Mel joined Fire’s room where most of the COM members were sitting. Holli and Kayla were playing patty-cake on the carpet, Lars was rummaging through Fire’s makeup drawers, Moony was sitting on the windowsill, bathed in moonlight and looking wide-awake. Eli was lying on Fire’s bed while Nate was sitting on the ground, looking tired and bored. Feyre and Alvario had come back (finally) and Feyre was square dancing with Fire while Alvario reclined next to Eli and laughed at them. Mari was perched on a chair while River and Jay dozed off on her legs. “What is this about? I wanna go back to sleep,” Mel said grouchily, and sat on the couch next to Alek.  
Fire detached herself from Feyre, her happy aura fading. “Ok so as all of you clearly know-” she started with a pointed look at all of them “-Eli and I came back an hour ago. Thank you for the pasta by the way, Jay. it was magnificent. We came here, and because i’m a sentimental bastard, i wanted to check on Sam before the big battle and stuff. Alone. So i went up, and she wasn’t there.” Fire started pacing. “Eli and i searched the whole grounds, we called Alek and Holli, we can’t track her down. I told Madeleine but i don’t know how much she’ll be able to do-”  
Madeleine burst into the room, her hair a mess, her robes in disarray. She looked distressed. “I can’t find her anywhere. She’s gone, and she’s left no trace of herself here.”  
“How is that possible? She moves like a granny nowadays. She couldn’t have gone far,” Kayla said.  
“We checked a fifty kilometer radius, not a trace.” Alek said, looking dejected. “Maybe she’s been called back to Olympus?”  
Fire shook her head. “She would have told us. We would have a sign.”  
They went on like this for a few minutes until finally Mel interjected. “It doesn’t matter where Sam is right now, you guys. She’s a tough nut and she wouldn’t want us to worry about this the night before a big battle. She would want her kids to get a good night’s sleep and then wake up fresh and ready to pulverize a couple hundred demons.” Mel looked at Fire. “right?”  
Fire nodded softly. “Right.” 

***

Mel was awoken five hours later again, this time by Jay, who had brought Mel some coffee and a sandwich. “Best not to go downstairs. It’s pretty hectic,” she explained before leaving.  
Mel ate fast and then looked at the clothes and weapons Fire had set out for them. It consisted of a black t-shirt with black jeans and boots, along with a nice black jacket. No armor. When Mel had asked why they didn’t wear armor, Fire had replied, “that is so 1600's.”  
For the weapons, Fire had chosen a set of knives to be hung from the waist, a small gun with a holster, and an empty scabbard for the sword of darkness. Smiling Mel put them all on, and left the room, giving it one last glance. This room had become Mel’s have, with its large windows and canopy bed. The room had an entire wall dedicated to a bookshelf and arts supplies. An easel stood there, a fresh page on it, waiting for Mel. sighing, they walked out. 

When going down, Mel peeked into the main room of the church from when it was still a church. Instead of pews, like a normal church, this had become the armory and library. On the far end, there were a few benches right in front of the Jesus statue. Dodging a few warriors running around looking for last-minute weapons, Mel walked up to the Jesus statue. On closer inspection, Mel saw that it had a note taped to it which looked a bit old and said “𝑴𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 :)”. Smiling, Mel knelt. “Uh, hi, Lord Jesus. I know we haven’t talked much, mostly because i never really believed in you, but if you’re there, i hope you’re listening. Please, keep my friends and fellow fighters safe from the hands of Tartarus. And it would be nice of we won. Just saying. Amen.” Mel stood up and turned to leave when a voice spoke, “Mitch.”  
Mel whirled around and looked at the statue. “Excuse me?”  
The voice reverberated from the statue again. “I am not Jesus. I am Mitch, of the Church of Mitch. Therefore all those who pass through my halls are under my protection. You need not worry, demon child.”  
Mel probed further, “do you know where Sam is?”  
“No. she shrouded herself in powerful magic before she left. Good luck. Now off with you!”  
Mel felt as though they had been dismissed, and left.

***

The trip to downtown London was short. Mel flew down with Alek and Fire. Eli was already there, setting up command tents with Kayla and Holli. Every few seconds or so the ground would shake, so Mel was glad not to be on the ground. Their stomach was turning and doing jumping jacks. They were so close to death. As they floated down to the command tent, Mel was caught in a flurry of action, everywhere there was something happening. “When will we start?” Mel asked Eli.  
Eli looked up absently. “When it wants to start.”  
Mel circled around, checking weapons and shields. At one point they were joined by Fire, who was dressed similarly to Mel but instead of a scabbard, she had two identical long knives hanging from her belt. She held tightly to Mel, like she was afraid Mel would disappear. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥, Mel realized.  
“Mel, i just want to say,” she started, sounding like she had a head-cold, “you’re a great person. And i know you’re scared and stuff, but we’re gonna make it. And then we’re gonna get you your first drink.”  
Mel smiled ruefully at the younger girl. “Deal.”  
They hugged briefly, then Fire ran off to find River. 

Mel checked the watch on their wrist. 7:10 A.M.  
“Three minutes.”  
Mel turned and saw Andrew standing behind them. “What?”  
Andrew gestured to the watch. “Three minutes until the Gates open. Look, it’s practically falling over.”  
That was true. The Gates were surrounded soldiers in a shield wall. The Gates themselves were humongous, made of what Alek called Stygian iron. The Gate’s were locked, and on the other side, all Mel saw was thick darkness. “This is going to be a massacre,” Andrew said.  
“Why are you even talking to me?”  
“Because, Melanie, i wanted to warn you. My daughter, Nree, she may be your friend, but she is my daughter. She is a member of the houses of Apollo, Kali and Nephthys. She is spread out thin with her blood. Do you really think you can trust her?”  
“Either explain what you want or screw off, General.”  
“I mean, do you know anything about your friends? Do you know why my daughters even came to the London branch of the Order? Do you know why the Princess did? Or that shapeshifter? Or even Hollister? Do you know of their crimes? Are you sure you’re ready to fight this war on their side? You could soar higher in Delphi. If we survive this, there may be an opening for you there. Think about it.” he made to walk away.  
“Wait, General.” Mel turned to Andrew, crossing their arms. “You may be an asshole, and a bigot, and you were a piece of crap to your kids. But you know what else? You’re the son of Apollo, the god of the sun, and yet you still have such a cold heart. These kids accepted me before anyone at Delphi, especially you, gave a damn. They are brave and strong and worth ten thousands of you. Now get out of my way.”

Mel pushed past him and stood in-between Moony and Alek, facing the gates. “Ready?” Moony asked.  
Mel nodded, steeling their nerves, and drawing a sword from the darkness from around them. “Ready.”  
The tremors shaking the ground seemed to increase, and a ear-splitting roar came from the gates as they burst open, spilling forth waves of darkness, monsters and Dark Creatures.  
Mel raised their sword, look at Fire and nodded to each other. Then they charged.


	11. Chapter 10: The Truth

The minutes passed in a blur. Mel cut an arc through the monsters. Because of the glowing eyes, wings, tail, and horns, the demons would think Mel was on their side, and then promptly die. Sometimes it was Fire at their side, sometimes Mari, sometimes Alek or Eli, but Moony stayed with them constantly. For the first time, Mel fully understood how many monsters from different realms there were. They slashed through Scythian Dracaenae, Indian Snake monsters, Norse wights, and Egyptian bat demons. So many cultures and realms overlapping each other was literally frying the air. 

Looking around, Mel saw Alek flying above everyone, zapping demons meticulously. They were surrounded by a purple aura; dark purple flames flickered in their hands. On the other side, Eli was flipping a wight into a hoard of empousai, and shot it from a thirty metre range. The emousai ran to retaliate on their mismatched legs, but Eli turned into a dragon and struck them with their tail. On the other side, Holli and Jay were standing back to back, casting spell after spell, slowing down the attacking hoards. River and Mari had joined forces and were drowning a bunch of fire demons. Feyre, Kayla and Alvario were shooting arrows like their life depended on it, which it kind of did. Fire, like Alek, was flying above it all. The air around her burned, along with all the monsters within a two metre radius of her. She shot through the air towards the gates, tackling a―was that a cyclops?  
Mel ran to Fire, but a second later was pushed back as the cyclops exploded into a pile of brown dust. Fire walked over, cutting a path to Mel. “that was fun,” she said mildly, before flying off. Mel rolled their eyes. 

Even though it felt like they were winning, Mel knew they were going to be overrun soon. Lars was MIA, almost everyone was injured and Mel saw Madeleine sitting in a corner with a broken ankle, passed out. They realized they had never had a plan, all they knew was that they had to close the gates and make sure they never materialized on the Earth for a few centuries at least. Mel fought their way through countless demons with switchblade heads and empousai and a dracaenae, until finally they were just a few metres away from the gates. Slashing a flying Razorblade-headed demon out of the sky, Mel ran to the gates, but then immediately.   
Sam.  
She knelt at the gates, her head bowed. She was no longer a grandma, her hair was dark and long. “Sam?”

She turned and Mel almost fell. Her eyes were glowing gold. She wore lovely white robes with golden swirls on them. On her head was a crown of golden laurels. She smiled. “Hello Melanie.”  
“Sam, what the hell are you doing? Get away from there!” Mel tried to run towards her, but something held them back. Sam stood, still looking breathtaking and ethereal and took Melanie’s hands. “I’m sorry for lying to you, Mel. i could never tell you, until now.”  
“What are you talking about?”

Sam pulled Mel towards the Gates. Through the darkness, Mel could make out a figure coming out. It was a man in a black tailored suit, beautiful like an angel, with glowing red eyes and wings that were just like Mel’s. He walked to them, and his eyes turned to a normal green colour. Sam dropped Mel’s hands and ran to him and when they embraced, Mel felt something in them click.   
“Melanie.” the man said, walking over. He looked nervous and was rubbing a locket at his neck the same way Mel did with their cross necklace. “My name is Lucifer of the Morning-star, and i am the King of Hell.”

Mel stood shocked. At that moment, Fire swooped in on Eli the dragon and dropped to the ground, knives drawn. She looked at the scene before her and nodded as if it made perfect sense. “Sup, Sam?” she said, tossing a knife to Sam. “i believe that’s yours.” she exchanged a look with Mel and gave Lucifer a once-over with raised eyebrows then went to work on covering Mel’s back from the fire demon hurtling towards them. 

“How do you know my name?” Mel asked Lucifer.   
Lucifer took out a picture from his pocket and held it up. It was the picture attached to Sam’s letter to...him.   
Mel looked at Sam. “You.”  
She smiled knowingly. “Me.”  
“That means,” Mel paused, not trusting themself to say it. They looked at Lucifer. “You’re my-?”  
“Yes,” he said, still looking nervous. “Mel, i know you may be angry and confused and i have been terribly absent, but-” he never got to finish the sentence, because Mel tackled him in a hug.   
“You’re really my father?” they asked.   
He nodded, dazed. “Yes, i really am.”  
“Why are you here, though?”  
“To take you home. Your true home.”  
Sam walked forward and hugged Mel tightly. “I’m so sorry, my child.”  
“Don’t be, Sam. Mum. can i call you that?”  
Sam laughed. “Of course you can. Gods know i’ve always wanted someone to call me that.”  
She looked towards the gates, which were practically breaking off of their hinges. “It’s time.”  
“Time for what?” Mel asked, before hearing a screeching sound at their ear. 

Before they could react, Alek knocked it out of the air as they flew towards them. They touched down and Eli, River and Holli ran over, Fire passed out in their arms. “Sam! Thank the gods, we thought you were dead!” Alek said, tackling her in a hug. Alek looked at Lucifer, then at Mel, eyes wide. Then they knelt before Lucifer, “my lord.”   
Sam rolled her eyes. “Don’t inflate his ego.”  
“What ego?” Lucifer asked mildly walking over to Holli and Eli, who were trying to get Fire to wake up. “Is she okay?”  
“Does she look okay?” Eli snapped, running a hand through their hair. “I told the idiot to not go after that goddamned chimera, but nooo. Had to be a hero.” Sam knelt next River, and placed a hand on Fire’s forehead. Slowly, Fire’s breathing returned to normal, and her forehead stopped bleeding. She opened her eyes and looked at Sam. “does Mel know?”  
“Yeah.”  
Fire groaned and glared at Lucifer. “You couldn’t have come a few hours later? I would’ve won the stupid bet.”  
“Wait,” Mel said incredulously. “You knew?”  
Alek scoffed. “Me, River, and Fire have been at COM longer than any of you. We know all the dirty secrets. We figured you were his kid-” they gestured at Lucifer “-about two weeks ago when you did that thing with Andrew. Now Fire has to pay up,” they finished, smirking. 

“There’s no time for explanations now,” River interjected anxiously. “Holli and i are going to go try to find Lars, and Sam-” they stopped abruptly and stood up, blinking as though they were holding back tears. “Hey, now,” Sam said, hugging them. “No tears. Go find Lars. i love you, okay?”  
River nodded, then ran off with Holli. Sam looked down at Fire, who was trying to get up. Sam knelt down again, and they hugged. “I’m so proud of you, kiddo. I love you.”  
Fire nodded. “I love you, too, Sam.” leaning on Eli, she stood up, a steely look on her face. She squeezed Mel’s arm. “We’ll cover for you.” Eli transformed into a dragon, and Fire jumped on their back, flying off.   
Only Alek was left with them. “Sam, please don’t do this,” Alek pleaded. “We can find another way, please-”  
Sam cupped Alek’s face gently. “The Fates have woven my fate like this, and i have accepted it. If i don’t do this, there will be more death, more destruction. You of all people, Alek, should know that.”  
“But, i can’t-”  
“Yes you can. I trust you. We all do.” they hugged, and Alek looked at Mel, tears in their eyes. “I understand if you want to go, Mel. but never forget you have family here, too. Don’t die.” then they ran off to gods knew where.

“Well, Mel? If you give the word, i’ll pull back all my troops, and we can end this,” said Lucifer, looking expectantly at Mel.  
“Yes! Yes, pull them back, please father.”  
“Dad will do, i think,” he said shrugging. He snapped his fingers, and instantly all the demons were pushed back, being sucked into the Gates. Sam ran to the Gates, holding them open. “What is Sam doing?” Mel shouted over the din.  
Lucifer made a grim face. “What she has to do.”  
Watching carefully through the darkness and demons, Mel caught a familiar face. Eyes widening, Mel ran into the thicket and grabbed at him, and pulled him out of the demons falling into Tartarus. Lars looked sickly and Mel could feel his life power fading.   
Looking up again, Mel saw Sam standing alone pulsating golden light, and single-handedly pushing the doors closed. Her arms raised, she created glowing ropes and tied the gates, locking them tightly shut. From somewhere, Mel heard a scream―was that Fire?  
Sam then collapsed, and Lucifer ran to her. He nodded, and whispered something to the sky. A glowing apparition appeared above Sam, like her ghost or something. Ghost Sam smiled and disappeared.

“LUCIFER!” a roar came, and a man wearing Greek-style robes was flying towards them. He pushed Lucifer away from Sam. “my child, my sweet daughter,” he sobbed over her body.   
He glared at Lucifer. “Bring her back!”  
“My lord, i cannot.”  
The man rounded on Lucifer. “All this destruction, all the lives lost, this is your fault.”  
“Actually,” Lucifer said, pushing him away, “it’s yours, Lord Zeus. I did not open the Gates. They bonds have been loosening for decades. You should have replaced them.”   
“Silence!” the man roared. He waved a hand at Lucifer dismissively. “Go back to where you came from, demon. Take your children with you.”   
Lucifer nodded swiftly, and waved his arm in a sweeping motion. Mel did not have time to get Lars to safety. “Wait, Dad, no-!” 

The last thing they remembered was falling into the darkness, far far away from the mortal world. Mel wondered if they would ever see the light again.


	12. Epilogue: The King of Hell

After the battle, there was a lot of cleaning up to do.   
The members of the Church of Mitch moved as though on auto-pilot. No one knew what to make of their situation.   
Sam was dead. The demon child and Lars were also dead, to their knowledge. No bodies for them were found, but they held a funeral anyways.  
The remaining troops had moved back to Delphi. Madeleine stayed with them to get them back on their feet, and named Alek the new head of the Church of Mitch, to which everyone agreed. 

Sam’s funeral was held on a lovely summer’s day, in the grounds of the church. Afterwards, everyone drifted off, except River, Alek, and Fire. they sat around Sam’s grave, talking about the old days, reminiscing. It felt like she was there with them.  
At one point, a beautiful woman in a lovely black dress and heels appeared out of nowhere. She stood over the grave standing next to Zeus, and mourned for her favoured Charity. She knelt next to Alek and spoke a prayer. “There,” said Aphrodite, satisfied. “There is nothing more we can do for her beautiful soul.” the two gods disappeared. Slowly, Alek, and River went back inside. When it became night, Fire summoned a small ball of fire and through it into the air. It exploded into a bunch of little fireflies and flew off into the darkness. “goodbye , Sam,” she whispered, and left. 

 

Meanwhile, in the Underworld, the demon child trained harder than ever. They finally had a reason, a purpose. Lars stayed by their side everyday, explaining things and talking them through the long days. 

The child knew why Lucifer needed them: to take over Hell. he no longer wanted to be in charge, and simply wanted to retire somewhere with Sam, whose soul visited almost everyday, helping the child understand their life better. Everyday, or whatever passed for day down there, the child learnt more and more about their world, the realms, the gods and monsters. They were being groomed for kingship. 

Finally, two years later, the child walked into the throne room, wings, horns, tail out, dressed in the dark robes of Royalty. They stood straight, striding confidently. Lucifer and Sam stood at the foot of the throne with Lars. Lucifer crowned his child and gestured for the demon child to sit in their rightful place.

“All hail, our new King of Hell.”

 

☆☆☆

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:  
> Well that was definitely something amirite?  
> I just wanted to take this chance to thank a couple amazing people:  
> Eli, my bestest friend ever, thank you for helping me with all these plotlines, characters, and everything you’ve done to help me with this, i’m ever so grateful and i am so excited to do more with you!!  
> Everyone from COM―Alek, Mari, Sam, Moony, Kayla, River, Lars, Holli, Jay, and of course Mel― thank you so much for all your support, art, and love on this book. I can’t wait to start writing Book 2.  
> Oh yeah, there’s gonna be a book 2. This story is far from over.   
> Of course, thank you to all the other people i used in this story―Nate, Feyre, Felix, Ace― ya’ll are the best. Thank you for dealing with my craziness, Felix and Ace. ya’ll are the true MVPs.   
> And yeah that’s it for now!  
> Thank you so much for reading, and i’ll see you next time.  
> Until then,  
> Fire

**Author's Note:**

> i think im going to upload everything from legacy here now. it's much easier for other people to read this way, and i've wanted ao3 for a long time. enjoy!!


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